Company seeks to reinvent wheel with electric hybrid device

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A Massachusetts startup is launching a new device that transforms almost any bicycle into an electric-hybrid vehicle using an app on a smartphone.

The device, called the Copenhagen Wheel, is installed as part of a rear hub of a bike wheel and is packed with a proprietary computer, batteries and sensors that monitor how hard a rider is pedaling and activate an onboard motor whenever support is needed.

The device uses wireless connectivity to communicate with the biker’s smartphone to track distance traveled and elevation gained, share with friends the number of calories burned and lock the wheel remotely as soon as the owner walks away from the bike.

“The motor integrates itself with the rider’s motion very, very seamlessly,” said Assaf Biderman, who co-invented the device at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s SENSEable City Laboratory, where he is associate director. “It’s almost like having a riding companion riding together with you, making the ride easier, simpler.”

The combination of power from the Copenhagen Wheel and the cyclist’s energy can make an average biker move “almost like a Tour-de-France-level athlete in your daily commute,” said Biderman, who founded Cambridge, Mass.-based Superpedestrian Inc. that secured an exclusive license for the technology from MIT.

The Copenhagen Wheel packs sufficient power to propel a rider as fast as 37 mph, but developers have put speed limits in software to meet local speed limits, effectively turning off the motor once the speed reaches 20 mph in the U.S. and 25 kilometers in Europe.

The initial 1,000 units of the Copenhagen Wheel became available for preorder through the Superpedestrian website earlier this month. Two weeks later, at least 810 had been sold for $699 each, the majority of them to customers in the U.S.

The Copenhagen Wheel does not replace a cyclist’s existing bicycle. Consumers get the stylish hubcap-sized device already installed on a new rear wheel that fits their current bicycle. They remove the current wheel from their bike and install the souped-up unit and they are ready to go. The batteries are rechargeable.